Apparatus for operatihgr rudders



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

C. F. E. BLAICH, OF ELYRIA, OHIO.

APPARATUS FOR OPERATING RUDDERS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 25,878, dated October 25, 1859.

To all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, C. F. E. BLAIGH, of Elyria, in the county of Lorainand State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Devicesfor Operating Rudders; and I dohereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, inwhich- Figure l is a side elevation of the rear portion of a ship, withmy improvement attached. Fig. 2, end elevation of the same, and Fig. 3,a horizontal sect-ion of the same.

Similar letters of reference, in each of the several figures indicatecorresponding parts,

'Ihe nature of my invention consists in the arrangement of one or morespiral ribs on the rudder shaft, and having a sliding tube fitted tosaid ribs by means of spiral grooves formed in its eye; said tube havingears and being dovetailed to a plate on the stern of the ship, so as toslide up and down on said plate and on the shaft within a groove orspace provided in the back of the rudder,-

substantially in the manner and for the purposes hereinafter set forth.

To enable others, skilled in the art, to make and use my invention, Iwill proceed to describe its construction and organization.

A, represents the stern of a ship.

B`, is the rudder attached to a vertical shaft C, which is hung inbearings a, Y), of the ship as shown. A portion of the rudder B, is cutaway at o, for the purpose presently seen.

D, D, are spiral ribs formed on the shaft.

C, about midway of its length; the spiral of these ribs is to commenceon one side of the shaft and terminate on the other side, so as toproduce a half revolution in the rudder; or any desired extent ofmovement of the same. E, is a tube with spiral grooves al, in thecircumference of its eye; this tube is fitted over the shaft C, so thatthe spiral ribs gear into the grooves d, as represented in Fig. 3.

F, F, are ears formed on the tube E, and having a female dovetail groovee, formed in them, and G is a male dovetail plate fastened to the sternof the ship; over this plate, the tube slides up and down as illustratedin red, black and blue, being confined to the same by means of thedovetail groove e, as represented in Fig. 3. In order to avoid friction,rollers maybe interposed between the spiral ribs and grooves.

From the above description of parts, it will be seen that if the tube ismoved up or down, by means of any suitable lever or screw arrangementleading down from the top of a ship, and connecting with it, its spiralgrooves will cause the spiral ribs to turn the shafts of the ruddereither to the right or left, to the extent desired, in a veryexpeditious manner; owing to the tube having no revolving movement andthe spiral ribs having an inclination which is very steep.

My invention is very simple, and the great advantage of the same lies inthe facility with which the rudder can be adjusted by it.

By having the upper bearing of the shaft C, constructed so as to allowthe shaft to slide through it, the rudder can rise and fall and thuspass over any obstacle which may come in its way, for it is evident thatif the tube remains stationary, the spiral ribs will pass up through thegrooves when any force acts against the bottom of the rudder: the rudderof course turning out of a parallel line with the course of the ship asit rises.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination of the rudder B, O, spiral ribs D, and spirally groovedsliding tube E, substantially in the manner and for the purposes setforth.

C. F. E. BLAIOH.

Witnesses:

GOODWIN Y. Afr LEE, R. W. FENwIoK.

